Woodard watches Thursday practice with bird’s eye view

Lamar University football coach Ray Woodard had a different view for practice Thursday by watching from a cherry picker between the team’s two practice fields. The view gave him an elevated look at the two-hour practice.

Woodard watched from up there “to see more of everything,” he said. “I just wanted to get another look at some things. There’s a lot of things you miss on the field. I wanted to check out more. Plus, it’s a little change of pace.”

Woodard said the elevated view allows him to see more on the back end of the defense. Watching from the sideline or behind the offensive line of scrimmage only offers a limited view. Standing in the cherry picker allowed Woodard to have an immediate view of what he might normally see on video.

The cherry picker is where members of Lamar’s video crew record practice.

“Overall, the view is better,” said Woodard, who plans to watch practice from the higher vantage point once a week.